Unilateral Fractionated Thoracic Irradiation Induces Abscopal Injury in Contralateral Lung through NF-κB Pathway.

This invited commentary grew out of a presentation made at the 2025 ConRad Meeting in Munich, Germany, and summarizes talks made by researchers supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the Bundeswehr Institute of Radiobiology (BIR) during a joint programmatic workshop held on September 11-12, 2024. The symposium focused on the global health readiness and responses to radiological or nuclear public health emergencies; the status of medical countermeasure development and models used to develop these countermeasures; identification of biomarkers of radiation injuries and biodosimetry tools, and recent advances in developing tools for triage, definitive dose assessment and predictive assays. Areas of common synergy between the two entities were also explored to inform potential future collaborative efforts. There are many tools at different stages of development, and emergence of substantive datasets that require cutting-edge machine learning approaches, multiparametric analyses, and integrated systems outcome to fully exploit the potential of this knowledge and accurately address radiological emergency preparedness. In these endeavors, now more than ever, it is critical to continue connecting with the world's scientific communities to accelerate scientific breakthroughs, close research gaps, and enhance radiation emergency readiness.